LOOPER, IRON MAN Concept Art by Ron Mendell

Ron Mendell is a professional concept artist, designer and modeler for Hollywood films like Star Trek (2009) and The Hunger Games (2012). He's shared some great concept art in his portfolio and I thought I'd share some with you.

Check after the jump for designs for Whiplash's chest arc reactor in Iron Man 2, Looper's time machine and more. All commentary comes from his site.

Click the images to enlarge.  In Esperanto, that would be "Alklaku la bildojn por fari ilin pli grandaj." Sometimes I get bored writing that last sentence...



IRON MAN

"Well of course this was an awesome film to work on. IM was one of my favorite characters growing up as a kid, who'd of thought I would be involved as much as I was. One of my attributes is being able to designas well as build, so both talents were put to use on IRONMAN 1. 

"First of all I did many designs for a case that would hold Tony Stark's suit for travel..."

"I also built the wall mounted JARVIS computers that were around his house. They had an actuating knob and backlit screens."

"Other designs I worked on include GRENADES, SUIT WEAPONS, MISSILES and CHEST X-RAY'S of TONY STARK showing the shrapnel in his chest along with the RT [Repulsor Transmitter]. I did not design the RT on this IRONMAN, but did for IRONMAN 2."

 Iron Man 2
"On IM2, I concentrated on Tony's RT. The power source in his chest. All these concepts were done in solidThinking, my software of choice for 3D modeling. The 3D files of the final design were sent to a vendor who built them directly from the solidThinking export."

"These are concepts for Ivan's RT, along with the final design as it appeared on screen."

"Among many other projects, I worked on designs for Tony's Formula 1 car and helmet as well as jewelry pieces."

Looper
"In the future, Rian wanted gasoline to be so costly and un-available that it was reserved for the super elite. Ed had the concept that the cars ran off their own emissions with the support of solar power. So I came up with the V.E.R.B. - Vehicle Exhaust Re-Breather. This system allowed the exhaust fumes to circulate thru a VERB that contained a readily available power cel, then back into the combustion system to power the cars. The solar panels powered the VERB and assisted other electronic functions in the cars.

"On the whole project I was responsible for styling over 40 different cars. I had my design space at Picture Car Warehouse in Reseda, CA where most of the fabrication happened. Final paint and tweaking happened when i traveled to New Orleans. Special thanks to Ted, Steve and Marty at PCW!"
 

V.E.R.B. Concept 

"Rian, Ed Verroux and Ram Bergman allowed me to have a huge design influence on everything LOOPER.

"The TIME MACHINE is another key item in the movie. Ed gave me initial sketches and as with the bike, I moved into 3D to generate drawings to build from. And the cool thing is... Sony gave the TIME MACHINE back to me, so it is sitting in my shop on display!"

The HOVER BIKE or SLATT BIKE as it was scripted was a great build. Rian gave me a photo of Bob Dylan riding an old red Triumph and he said... " Like this, but powered by a jet engine ". Ed did some initial drawings which [laid] down the overall concept. I took over and ran with it working in 3D and generating files to be water jet. The bike was pretty much made from scratch with the seat and handle bars donated from a scooter. The tank was stretched and modified from an existing bike. We built 2 bikes and had additional tanks and saddle bags to play them as multiple vehicles in the background. SPFX built a rig that supported the bike from the side of a pickup which was digitally removed later.

"After filming was complete, Rian asked me to do some concept design for VFX. These designs were used by the VFX department to create background vehicles."

Looper Official Synopsis:
In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented - but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper" - a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) - is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good... until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination. The film is written and directed by Rian Johnson and also stars Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, and Jeff Daniels. Ram Bergman and James D. Stern produce.

See more of Ron Mendell's portfolio at http://www.ronmendell.com/

What do you think of the illustrations?
 
@ Copyright 2012 Endgame Entertainment, DMG Entertainment, FilmDistrict, Ron Mendell. All rights reserved